Cannes, Charlotte Street, Camera

I am super lucky that I get to travel for work sometimes. Super lucky. Since 2003 I’ve been traveling to Cannes, France for the annual MIDEM music conference with a trip to London for work meetings tagged on. It all seems very glamorous and exciting and it is but it’s also exhausting. The 8-9 hour time difference is a lot when you have to hit the ground running and actually be coherent and “on” during the majority of the trip. But it’s part of the job and believe me I am no complaining. So, 4 days in Cannes and 4 Days in London and days of 12 hour flights and I’m back! It was a good trip. It’s nice to see that there’s so much WORLD out there. Lots of people, cultures and food.

Cannes was sunny, warmish and the Carlton Hotel upgraded my room to the Bernardo Bertolucci suite! Crazy! I wondered how many stars had been in that room over the years. At first I had too much room and stayed in the bedroom, then I came to my room for a 15 minute break from meetings in the middle of the afternoon, opened the windows and just hung out on the sofa. It was magical.

London on the other hand was not sunny and not warm, in fact, it was freezing! My room at the Charlotte Street Hotel was a bit disappointing. Much smaller than the rooms at my “usual” spot the Soho Hotel and smaller than the photos on their website! It’s still a beautiful hotel in a great location but personally, I like a bigger room. London was charming as usual and I got to see my friend Jacquie. Food was great as usual. I just love EAT and Pret a Manger which are dotted all over the city. I also tried Pure which is similar. I wish we had these healthy fast food places here in Los Angeles. I think they would be popular here. Also went to Michelin star Tamarind for some Indian food, Blue Elephant for Thai and of course a quick trip to Franco Manca in Brixton for pizza.

Before I left on this trip I was on a mad quest to update my point and shoot. If this was a leisure trip I would have brought my big fancy Canon 5D Mkii but not for this trip. I have a Canon PowerShot G7 and have used it for years. It was the main camera for the photos in my cookbook, Sweet Things. But the G7 is a little bulky. So I wanted something a bit sleeker and new. Well Vincent Lafouret uses the Canon PowerShot S95 and loves it. So I wanted one. Of course they were sold out everywhere! I found one “in stock” on 42nd Street photo’s website, spoke to the salesman and ordered it! When it was 3 days before my trip I called for a shipping update and they told me it was out of stock! Um, I will never buy from 42nd Street Photo again. Luckily I found one in stock at a Best Buy in the Valley. It’s a fun little camera. Here are some of the results.